Special report: 5G and the autonomous vehicle

Automotive World investigates the role of 5G in the development of an ecosystem for autonomous vehicles

5G offers connectivity speeds up to 100 times faster than 4G, presenting the automotive industry with exciting possibilities for vehicle to vehicle (V2V) and vehicle to everything (V2X) connectivity; and with autonomous driving an increasingly important factor in automakers’ strategies, the industry is excited about the technology’s low latency, which is ideal for the safe and reliable functioning of autonomous vehicles.

Vehicular 5G could arrive on roads as early as 2021, but its rollout will be dependent on collaboration amongst the many stakeholders involved, including automakers, Tier 1s, telcos, chipset manufacturers and governments. When it does roll out, however, its first use in automotive will be in connected cars. The first mainstream autonomous drive offerings are not expected until a few years later, giving automakers an important opportunity to fine-tune their V2V activities ahead of an autonomous vehicle rollout.